The Reversal
by Velasa
Summary: Something goes horribly wrong on Eden Prime and the first human Spectre candidate vanishes after murdering a fellow soldier and critically injuring his mentor. The Council turns to Saren Arterius to hunt Shepard down and get to the bottom of the growing mystery. Unindoctrinated Saren/Nihlus AU.
1. The Incident

Inspired by a prompt on the Mass Effect Kink Meme that asked for a twist on the events of ME1.

* * *

.

"Arterius, I understand your concerns about this Shepard business. As you well know I share them, but we had no debatable grounds to deny their request. Donnel Udina is a shrewd bastard and he found all the right loopholes to get Tevos and Valern on their side. And with your protege vouching for the man there was nothing I could do but agree to let him begin training."

A waiter passed by and Sparatus waved him off, swirling his still-full glass. Saren's talons remained firmly templed together on the corner of their private table, his food untouched. The conversation had left him without an appetite.

Nominally this was a dinner between friends but in truth it was a private war summit held over fish and wine. The Councilor knew who to go to for problems that needed to be handled in a more... discreet manner. In return, Saren was _very _well funded. In most cases he would willingly oblige; Sparatus was a turian through and through and rarely asked for things that did not directly benefit the Hierarchy. But this situation was not as simple.

"I am afraid our previous handling of the matter cannot apply this time. Spectre Kryik has put this human forward, as you said, and I am neither in a position to nor terribly inclined to use the same solution."

"Why not? I could arrange something to give you the opportunity and for Spirits sake you scuttled your own trainee before."

"Only after I had trained a highly successful one. And as I recall Anderson was handed to me, I did not fight for him. My reputation was not on the line in that situation."

Sparatus looked up quickly from plucking meat from around the delicate bones of his fish, surprise in the flare of his mandibles. "Is that _sympathy_ Saren?"

"Spectre Kryik is a personal friend and I will not sabotage his career, even for this." Though it was said entirely conversationally there was a firm edge to his subvocals that made it clear he would not change his mind. The Councilor for his part let the matter drop and dinner continued in silence.

Twenty minute later Sparatus' omnitool pinged and he excused himself to take a call. The relative privacy let Saren shift from picking at his food to checking his own mail.

Saren had few regular corespondents and only one who would contact him without a specific purpose; scrolling through the log showed him a stream of messages from Nihlus ranging from flirting to trying to explain the importance of having a human serving the Council to questions about gun mods to comments on what he'd had for lunch. It was an unusual habit but entirely forgivable. Nihlus was an exquisite Spectre, and his quirks were forgotten at a moment's notice for his duty. He had never served with better.

Odd. Nihlus' last message was more than three hours ago and he hadn't signed out of the log. That was unusual for him.

The sound of shouting across the room had one of Saren's hands immediately drawing a pistol, but when he located the source it became obvious that it wasn't a genuine threat and he put the gun back. The commotion came from another dinner guest who had stew stained down the front of his elaborate robe shouting at the Councilor as he pushed busily past him to reach their table.

There may not have been imminent danger in the room but something was clearly wrong. Sparatus' mandibles were slack, his eyes wide, the normally dark skin of his throat paled.

"Councilor?"

"No time to explain the finer points- we need to leave, now. Something's happened, the Normandy is at the docks, there's been an incident."

Despite the fact that they had been discussing creating an incident less than an hour earlier Sparatus looked disturbed. There was no point in asking now when Sparatus was already moving purposefully between the tables to the exit for the Presidium commons. Saren wasted no time in following him.

* * *

It was quite possibly the longest meeting of his life.

The colony was dead. Shepard was gone. One human soldier from the Normandy dead, another moderately injured. Nihlus had been shot at close range and was quite possibly dying in a hospital room while they spoke. He retained the details of the meeting and controlled himself because he was a professional, but it was... difficult to say the least.

The moment they released him with the promise that he would be contacted as soon as they had further information on his upcoming mission he left without even his normal polite formalities. None of the individuals at the emergency Council session had been on the ground and secondhand information was nigh useless to him; they barely understood what had happened beyond casualty numbers. He needed to find someone who had been there.

He needed to find Nihlus.

There were other reasons for going to him of course, reasons that twisted his guts in knots but he refused to address them. Instead he surreptitiously obtained the information on Nihlus' status as it moved from critical to stable and never even once considered why he didn't find the human survivor to question as he let himself into his fellow Spectre's private room well past visiting hours. A sweep with his omnitool confirmed there were no bugs recording them. Then and only then did he look up.

Machinery cluttered the room and hung from delicate hooks coming down from the ceiling around the bed but he was alive. Nothing was disparate from the information he'd accessed in the last few hours so it wasn't a surprise. But seeing him in the middle of it was... something else entirely.

Saren skirted the bed, careful of the myriad of tubes running in and out of him; the most evident of which emerged from his chest where the shot had gone in, removing excess fluids and marring the elegant lines of his torso tattooing in appalling ways. ...He wanted to touch him. It was a terrible idea but the urge was uncontainable, and he freed a pale hand from a glove to lay it on an undamaged area of deep brown chest. The sight was deeply familiar... he had spent a great deal of time touching him in more pleasant circumstances. All the same he couldn't help to look at it. The form under his hand shifted slightly at his touch, and when he glanced back up he was greeted by a set of brilliant green eyes looking back at him.

"Spirits Saren, I hope you didn't kill any of the staff to get in here."

Nihlus' voice was thick with sleep and medication but he was smiling with the slight flare of his mandibles and some of the weight on Saren eased off. "I can assure you that I did not. It was a simple matter of observing patterns and avoiding them."

"You've been here all day haven't you?" The smile shifted to a grin but he was careful to move as little as possible, just tilting his head. Saren settled himself on the side of the bed so he wouldn't need to crane his neck to see him. The younger man's features softened at that and after a final check that there were no recording devices present Saren leaned down, settling the side of his face against a tattooed cheek in a very turian gesture of affection.

"Unimportant, Nihlus."

"Spirits you're being affectionate today." He laughed weakly; even the small movement that brought in his chest hurt him, but he did his best not to let it show. "And here you always told me it was just sex. Does this mean you're finally going to admit that you love me?"

"You will hear nothing if you don't heal." Their position meant that Saren got a face full of hospital bed but he could have cared less. The hand still on his chest brushed where he knew without looking one of the long lines of his tattoos was.

"So that's a promise? I get out of here and you fess up?" He tried to lean up to hold his arm at that and his monitors shouted in protest.

"Stop _moving _for- yes, as long as you recover!"

Nihlus smiled. He didn't see it so much as feel it in his position, a mandible pressing against his cheek in a flare. "That was almost worth getting shot for."

"_Kryik_-" Saren growled, pulling his head back to sit straight again.

"Alright, alright, yeesh... If it makes you feel any better I promise not to get shot on purpose. You have to admit it is pretty damn hard to get you to be romantic though."

"What happened, Nihlus."

That got him quiet. He raised his head, the humor gone. "How much do you know already?"

"The Council informed me of everything they knew, which amounts to nothing."

"Mh." If he could have sat up straight he would have but that was inadvisable. The change in his face and voice made the formality clear enough. "There was intelligence of an artifact on Eden Prime that matched what we know about Prothean Beacons. I was observing how Shepard functioned in his normal environment with a team; I'd read his reports but as you well know there's a difference to being there in person. What I'd planned... it doesn't matter any more. When we hit the ground all of the colonists were dead and there was this... ship, hovering in the distance. I don't know how to describe it besides evil. The one soldier we met still alive had no idea what had happened. I canceled the exercises and we went straight for the beacon."

His eyes stared off at nothing in particular, mandibles pulled tight to his face. "It did something to him. I don't know what, but it was functional and it did something to him and the ship reacted like it had been waiting and came towards us. I went to help Shepard and he shot me. He tried to do it again but the Lieutenant stopped him and he shot the Corporal instead. The soldier ran cursing after Shepard. After that it gets hazy."

Neither of them spoke for a few moments. Their eyes met again as Nihlus looked up, though the lack of expression in his face was in stark contrast to the tenderness of a few minutes ago. "This is the part where you tell me I fucked up."

"It may surprise you but I do not deride you for my own amusement. I read his files Nihlus, nothing spoke of such levels of unprompted violence. Yes I disagreed completely with your choice to pursue this course of action and I expected it might fail... but not in this manner."

Some of the tightness in Nihlus shoulders eased, but not much. "You spoke with the Council? What happened after I blacked out? All the doctors would tell me was to shut up and stay still."

"According to the Normandy's former Commander a large ship was spotted leaving the planet's atmosphere at a rapid speed. The soldiers who arrived at your location found the beacon shattered and one human corpse. There was no sign of this soldier or your trainee."

"Former Commander?"

"The Council has given me command of the Normandy until Shepard is hunted down. The beacon was priceless and attempted murder of a Spectre is frowned upon. Humanity has humiliated itself one too many times playing at Spectre and they know that I will get the job done."

Nihlus seemed taken aback by that, blinking rapidly. "Damn." was all that he managed to get out.

"The manner will be dealt with, I can assure you of that." The hand on his injured chest finally withdrew as he stood again, adjusting his robes carefully.

"I wish I could come."

"You aren't going anywhere for some time. The matter can be discussed when you heal."

As he started to turn to leave he heard Nihlus' voice behind him, quiet but clear over the faint humming and beeping of the machines connected to him. "Could I get a kiss first?"

Saren half turned his head very slowly, giving him a look.

"Come on Saren, just one. Please?"

He should have ignored it. But the look on that young face was... Spirits give him strength it was too much to deny him this one indulgence when he could have died. Three long-legged steps took him back and he tilted Nihlus' chin up slightly with a hand to touch their mouthplates in the alien gesture his friend was fond of for reasons he'd never understood. He finished it by brushing the tip of his tongue down the cream tattoo lines running down his mouth and withdrew, heading towards the docks.

He wanted to stay, but want was irrelevant when there was work to do.

* * *

"You can't replace the whole crew Saren."

"If it is to be my ship I need a free hand in it."

Sparatus eyed him over the vid link, frowning. "I'm well aware of your dislike for humans, but these ones know how to run your ship. Bring on additional crew if you like but you can't throw all the humans off just to suit your tastes."

"Then I will use my own ship that does not necessitate a crew."

"That's where I'm going to have to stop you. This is politics Saren and completely out of your hands. You'll command the Normandy, you'll keep the humans on board and you'll find this lunatic and bring him in."

"Or kill him."

"At least _try_ to bring him in" Sparatus sighed with near pleading in his subvocals. "I know he shot your student but Kryik will live, and the Council would very much like to know what in seven hells made him snap like that. It's possible we could even clear the mark against Kryik's judgement if it proves to be something unforeseeable. After all, who in the last 50,000 years has had contact with an intact Prothean beacon? Spirits know what the damn things even do."

"This could have all been solved if a search team had been sent out to capture Shepard after it occurred."

"If they hadn't left when they did Kryik would have died. The Normandy's Commander made a judgement call and you're lying out your ass if you try to say he should have done different."

Point taken. Saren gritted his mandibles to his face, looking up from the schematics he had spread out around him of his new ship's layout towards the digital Councilor projected in an alcove. "And this mystery ship?"

"Geth most likely. There was a quarian mechanic onboard who they wired footage of tracks and dead colonists' injuries and she identified them."

He avoided retorting that geth were impossible because he had seen far too much in his twenty-four years as a Spectre to discount it. Instead he focused on another comment. "There was a quarian on an Alliance ship?"

"A krogan as well. Shepard picked them up for the crew before leaving the Citadel."

"Mh." The files had spoken about his having a propensity for aliens. A gesture dismissed the screens of blueprints and crew reports as he stood. "Councilor, thank you for your time but I have business to attend to." Sparatus managed to give him one last warning look before the link was disengaged, leaving the Spectre alone in the Normandy's conference room.

So he was being forced to keep them. Saren's face twisted momentarily in disgust before fading back to his neutral expression as he strode towards the door. It hissed shut behind him as he began to trace out the interior of his new ship, a pale shadow in the low light. She was quiet now with the crew on leave for the time being. He preferred her that way, a shame it would not last. And a shame the humans had held her so long; she was a beautiful vessel and he doubted they could appreciate her sleek turian aesthetics.

This was perhaps the fifth time he had walked the course of the Normandy. He knew her halls, the specs of the IES system, the service histories of her crew, how much time it took the airlock to cycle, any minor element that could become important. Perhaps there was overreaction in it but he had flown his giliath-class strike craft for the entirety of his Spectre career and he knew her every inch. He could not hope for that familiarity with the Normandy but he could try. Especially with the unpredictable elements being forced on him.

He was examining the galaxy map when the first irritant showed itself; a clanking behind him that let out a yelp when it turned the corner into the CIC. "Who the hell are- Hey, that's classified shit in there! Turn that off!" the human called, hopping towards him on crutches.

Saren didn't bother turning his head or injecting anything resembling pleasantness into his tone. "This is my ship, I believe that grants me access."

It took a moment for it to sink into the man's brain who he was, and it was clear by the way he nearly lost his footing and tumbled down the ramp that his reputation had proceeded him. The human clambered back down to the floor but didn't leave, 'insubordinate' written into the lines of the hairy face.

"Pardon, _sir_, but I don't see why it _is_ your ship. We already have a Commander and he's damn good at his job. That Spectre shouldn't have been here in the first place and it's not Anderson's problem what happened on the ground."

"He was in command. That makes it his responsibility." Did he have to explain even the simplest concepts to these aliens?

"Pardon my French but that's bullshit. That guy should have watched his own ass, and I don't see why we need another Spectre on my baby as soon as we get rid of the last one."

In the low light of the frigate the galaxy map was brilliant; reflecting back up into his eyes and painting his face paler than it was. Saren was aware of himself enough to know that his features were unsettling to humans, the lighting making it even more so as he slowly turned his head and locked eyes with him. "A shame you will find me much more difficult to remove then, Mr. Moreau. You would have fared better with Nihlus Kryik. Now if you would return to your job."

Good, that seemed to properly cow him as he limped back to the bridge. Regrettable the human was talented. It would have been so easy to break him with none the wiser.

He would not suffer this mission surrounded by humans. Sparatus had said he could hire additional crew and by the Spirits he would have proper turian soldiers. Orange light flared across the room with the activation of his omnitool as he put through a call to an old friend. The conversation with Orinia was short, pleasant and productive; yes there was a Special Ops team that could be there within six hours, and yes her niece was faring much better since his intercession in her little problem. That dealt with, he ran the keystrokes to issue the order to the crew to return to duty at 0900 the next morning.


	2. Messages

He had made it a point to watch every crew member enter. The humans were vastly suspicious, some more so than others and he noted those faces in his memory for potential mutiny. Only two humans present interested him specifically and he would speak to them privately in time.

The quarian child was nervous, likely concerned that the individual who brought her onto an alien ship had gone mad and left her without support. Such concerns were unfounded however as he observed the Chief Engineer hover by her protectively in the crowd. Adams' report had mentioned his having several daughters, the youngest of whom was the same age as Tali'Zorah.

The krogan by contrast was more at ease than any other in the CIC as he well should be. Saren had thought there was something familiar in the scarred red hulk and a check had confirmed why; Urdnot Wrex had been in his employ in the past and they had always been amicable. The mercenary knew exactly what they was getting into with himself in command, and it was to his taste.

Last of all entered seven armored and heavily armed turians. Immediately a murmur ran through in the crowd. Many of the humans looked concerned, though a few of the younger staff craned their necks back with open curiosity on their faces

"You know why you are here." Saren announced, and the sound in the room died. "And there is little to explain. The Normandy goes to Eden Prime to hunt the killer of one of your own. If he is not there, it will move on until Shepard is apprehended. Your jobs remain unchanged."

He paused for a few moments and the silence remained. Good. "The loss of three soldiers would cripple a small vessel so I have taken steps to remedy that." and gestured to the cluster of turians gathered back in the bow. "Vakarian, if you would."

From the front of the group a the leader stepped forward and pulled off their helmet with a flourish to display a dark set of Cipritine blue tattoos and a broad grin. "Solana Vakarian of Obstinatus Unit at your service, Normandy. My comrades and I will be traveling with you for the duration of this mission. If you want to find us, we'll be bunking down in the garage." The others removed their helmets as well, three men and three women bearing the proud markings of Palaven cities to the last. The youngest of the men was nearly identical to the head of the team with one distinct difference; he stared with barely contained awe at the Spectre standing beside the galaxy map. Solana elbowed him in the side discreetly and he snapped his gaze away to look over the humans in the crowd.

Everything that needed to be said had been, and he closed the meeting with a gesture. "Return to your stations." As when they entered he watched them go, scanning every alien face. When they were gone he slipped out of the room. There were individuals he needed to speak with before the day was done.

* * *

Some time later once the crew was settled and the Normandy was on her way to the relay Saren entered the medbay. The doctor glanced up from her patient, and while she seemed intrigued by his presence she was neither suspicious nor frightened. "What can I do for you Commander?"

"Nihlus Kryik sends his regards doctor, and his thanks."

Her eyes crinkled in a way that he knew for a human smile. "I'm glad he's well enough to do so. I was worried that my work may not have been enough, I've stitched up a lot of soldiers in my years but I've never had a turian patient before."

"Basic care information for the relevant species had been added to your systems to assist you to that end. If you wish to inquire further the soldiers on the lower deck have all had medical training for our kind." Nihlus had asked him to be cordial to the woman and thank her. The latter was dealt with, the former ongoing. "I need to speak privately to your patient on the matter that occurred in the Exodus Cluster."

"The Lieutenant should be well enough to speak to you." The doctor removed her gloves and when she turned away towards her charge her tone changed from cordial to chastising. "Remember your medication in twenty minutes Kaidan, you'll regret it if you forget again."

"Yes ma'am."

Saren stood with his arms folded behind him as Doctor Chakwas let herself out. The human seated on the cot didn't flinch under his gaze, soft face locked in a carefully maintained neutrality. Kaidan Alenko had been more difficult to research than most of the rest of the crew. There was evidence of official cover-up in his past that spoke of rather more to the midlevel sentinel than his official record would lead the casual observer to believe. "You were on the ground team with Shepard for the incident yet you were not at the Council briefing."

"My implant didn't allow it, sir." Alenko gestured faintly to the back of his neck. "I'm better off than most L2s but it was in rare form that day, gave me the worst migraines of my life. Anderson was suppose to wheel me in to speak but I wouldn't have been very useful in that state..." A grimace distorted most of his face in a rather unpleasant way. "The Council were the ones who made the decision not to reschedule."

There was a pause; he could tell that Alenko was weighing something in his head before saying it. There was a definite suspicion there, but it seemed to focus more on the Spectre's current rank on the ship than his species. As Saren was there to learn the measure of the man he offered no input to sway him one way or another. "There's something I don't understand... if I'm not fit for duty why am I aboard the Normandy?"

"You were the only witness to the entirety of the events that occurred. I want you on the ground on Eden Prime."

It took Alenko by surprise to say the least. His brows knitted and he looked down to his heavily braced leg without intending to. "I can't walk again yet."

"The Normandy is equipped with a ground vehicle." The patience needed with these humans was astronomical, the simplest concepts were utterly foreign to them... but as with the doctor his distaste was tempered not only by necessity but the role the man had played in saving his protege's life. So Saren did his best to be patient for the following hour while questioning the Lieutenant. Though he learned little more than before. Some better descriptions, some insight into Shepard's personality before the incident, but the fundamentals were not changed. Since Saren had already spent some time speaking to the turian Ops unit when they first arrived at the Citadel he retreated to his cabin as soon as he left the medbay.

The solitude was a welcomed change of pace. He cared little for working in substantial groups, even of species he respected, so the ability to survey the Normandy's systems from the room's private terminal had been one of the first changed he'd had installed. Furnishings had been infinitely lower on the list so the chair from which he observed things was not wildly comfortable, but it did not matter. Only after Saren reviewed the information to be certain that all systems were nominal did he retreat from it to the bed to check his private messages.

.v.v.v.v.v.v.v.

Bedridden: So how's the Commander thing going?

Bedridden: I'm sure you can pull it off, if you remember how to talk to people.

Bedridden: Nothing's changed here. Still sitting on my ass

Bedridden: Well laying anyway, they won't let me sit up.

Bedridden: Bored out of my mind. Almost wish I played Galaxy of Fantasy.

(five minutes)

Bedridden: Horny too.

Bedridden: Really starting to regret turning down your offer last night.

Bedridden: If the heart monitor had actually spiked and brought someone in we could have just told them that you were interrogating my dick.

Bedridden: Or I could anyway, you wouldn't be doing a lot of talking.

(seventy minutes)

Bedridden: I miss you.

(thirty minutes)

Bedridden: I'm sick of this pass-by-every-four-months thing.

Bedridden: Spectres work together sometimes, has there ever been a permanent team?

(five minutes)

Bedridden: Of course I'd probably drive you nuts and you'd throw me out the airlock for forgetting to wipe my boots.

(fifteen minutes)

Bedridden: The doctors warned me the painkillers might make me loopy.

Bedridden: Or maudlin. This feels more like maudlin to me.

Bedridden: It's like getting drunk without the fun part.

(six minutes)

Bedridden: I should let you get back to work.

(ten minutes)

Bedridden: Take care of yourself.

.v.v.v.v.v.v.v.

Saren powered down his tool and stared out across his dimly lit quarters. ETA two hours to Eden Prime. He had a great deal of silence to fill until then.

* * *

It was a chill wind that blew through the empty settlement and fluttered the sashes of the quarian child examining blast scars in the side of a prefab structure. Little else moved in the area save her and the half of the turian team that was with them; three of the soldiers had set off in another direction after the Normandy had landed. The Lieutenant confirmed this was where they had found the human soldier, though nothing had been left alive and the dead were suspiciously absent. Solana spoke up first. "The locals haven't made it easy have they?"

"I asked for the sites to be left undisturbed, yet it seems that the Alliance has no interest in the will of the Council."

"If he was on the ground we'll find him. We can't track ghosts but if it's alive and walks we're good." Any particular opinions she held on humanity she kept to herself like a good soldier. Further ahead, Tali'Zorah ceased her examination and came back to them.

"The damage was all caused by weapons the geth use but that's all I can tell, the rest is gone." Frustration was clear in her modulated voice and posture, something he shared with her. Saren took one final look at the destroyed settlement before turning away.

"Then we shall proceed to the beacon site."

* * *

It took all of Saren's self control not to shout at the holograms of the Councilors, talons gripping the rail in the com room as he spoke through gritted teeth. It was barely past morning but the foul taste of the day was already building up in his throat: the lack of leads, the idiocy of the Alliance, the appalling nature of packing twice as many bodies in the ground craft as was advised combined with the suicidal maneuvering of the driver-

"Not only the bodies but the humans removed the fragments of the beacon. I have experts on the ground tracking Shepard , but I have no confidence that the Alliance has not simply chosen to remove him as well when they swept through before the Council's agents could arrive."

Over the link he could practically hear the veins popping in Ambassador Udina's eyes somewhere off-screen. "Such egregious accusations cannot be let stand! The Alliance wants Shepard captured as much as the Council does, it was a human marine that he killed and the human name he stained!"

There were numerous choice remarks about stains on the human name that he could have made but he held his tongue. This was not the place, and the facts were infinitely more damning than insults. "And the wisest course of action your leaders could decide on was to remove all evidence from the scene?"

All three council members were staring at the human now. Sparatus broke the silence, venom in his subvocals. "When exactly was the Alliance planning on informing the Council that they had spirited away an artifact of galactic importance, Ambassador?"

Saren's omni pinged and he ignored it. Then it pinged again in a more insistent pattern- it was the Obstinatus commander. Vakarian knew he was in a meeting, and for her to contact him...

"You'll have to excuse me Councilors. I believe you all have questions you would wish to ask the Ambassador and I have a lunatic to catch." He shut off the link unceremoniously and answered the call. "Arterius, Report."

"Spectre, we managed to track the end of Shepard's path and you're going to want to take a look at this." The soldier sounded off-ease and that was enough to put him on alert.

"Send the Mako to meet me at the Normandy's location."

"She's already on her way Spectre, ETA six minutes."

While he did not relish another trip in the vehicle he wasted no time hauling himself through the open door when it pulled up with a hellish screech of wheels. The ride the driver provided was by no means smooth but her maneuvering of the vehicle was impressive, covering the ground between the Normandy's dock and the site the call had come from in half the time it should have taken.

As for what he was here to see...

On the ground a short distance ahead was an impression in the grass. Carefully placed turian and quarian footprints ringed it, and a tech drone hovering overhead collecting data while its creator crouched in rushed conversation with one of his fellows. Everyone else just stared.

It was the impression of a ship, and when he had traced it out with his own feet twice to be certain, it was over a mile long.


	3. Portends of Another Time

"We should tell the council."

It was more than a day later and they were at a standstill. Saren frowned over folded hands. "The Council will not believe the impossible without further proof. An outline in the grass is not sufficient."

"The Spectre has a point. Dreadnoughts can't land on planets, and if this thing is twice the size... _Spirits_ it must have been incredible." That was the younger Vakarian. Garrus had been leading the opposite team at the time of the discovery and Solana had refused to let him visit the site. Wise of her. Something had lingered in the air where the vessel had lain and Nihlus had not been wrong to call it evil.

"Why are we just sitting here talking? The Normandy has been receiving distress signals for nearly an hour now!" Ah, and that would be one of the humans. He had tried to hold these meetings between the civilized races but at the start of the second several of the ranking humans had arrived saying that 'Joker' had reminded them of it. So the private war between he and Mr. Moreau continued. He should have broken his arms when he had the chance.

"The Normandy is on a Council-appointed mission and cannot turn from it for every minor diversion." Was it that hard for them to understand?

Officer Pressly's face was red with anger, the fleshy lines of his skin drawn taught. He slammed his fist on the arm of his chair as he shouted "Damn it man there are people dying on Chohe! This is-"

"None of our concern." Saren deadpanned, not even bothering to look up as the Navigator swore and stormed out of the room in protest. After another hour the meeting adjourned as fruitlessly as the last. The Spectre disappeared into the privacy of his cabin, cleansed himself, checked the few systems that needed observation while grounded and returned to his private messages.

Nothing crucial. An inquiry from a broker about recent stock sales (deleted). A note from Benezia commending him on his new appointment (answered politely). Confirmation from various contacts that no known race was even working on a ship with the specs he had given and a few insistences that it wasn't even possible (encouraged to keep him informed in the matter most appropriate for each). And several scattered messaged from Nihlus (saved and left unanswered). Then searching: for anything that referenced the existence of a ship a mile long, for mentions of Shepard in Alliance databases he had hacked, for anything that wasn't useless through his rapidly mounting exhaustion and frustration...

* * *

"Spirits, I thought you were on the Citadel." Nihlus lowered his rifle to rest at his side. He'd clearly been running and fighting for some time but fatigue was far from his eyes. "What are you doing here?"

"The Council thought you could use help on this one."

The words came from his mouth but they weren't his, it wasn't his voice. Something was off in it... something dead. Nihlus for his part didn't seem to notice and when Saren touched his shoulder faintly he smiled. It wasn't a long one, just a flick of a mandible and a change in his brilliant green eyes, and it was gone when he turned towards a series of bizarre structures in the near distance topped with human corpses.

"I don't know how much they briefed you but geth are damn near everywhere. The situation's bad." Nihlus stood tall against the low buildings and murky light of the planet, his long curled fringe inclined back towards him. The tones in the stormy sky made him look even more exquisite than usual. _Spirits_ he was the most beautiful man he'd ever seen. "I'm glad you're here, Saren."

His pistol raised of its own accord, centering on the back of his lover's head.

"Don't worry. I've got it under control."

Saren jerked awake violently with a strangled sound, thrashing against the confinement of the light sheets for a few breaths before he realized where he was. His ship, a nightmare, a dream though he'd never had one this vivid; he could still feel fresh blood splattered on his face in a ghosted heat. When he touched it all that came back on his talons was a thin sheen of sweat. No blood, no viscera, no chipped fragments of elegantly tattooed fringe. Still the unsettling sensation lingered, crawling under his skin.

Several moments later over his ragged breathing he heard the ping of his omnitool- and recognized the tone immediately. Nihlus was awake and he was initiating a call before rational thought could question it.

Rich laughter greeted him on the far side of the call the moment it went through, his registers layered in affection and teasing. "I know I'm good Saren but _damn_ you can't have listened to it that fast!" Then a pause, he could practically see Nihlus' expression change in the sibilant purr that followed. "Unless you're listening to it right now... don't suppose you'd like to thank me by patching video through? I haven't seen you naked in months."

"...Saren?" he asked after the silence stretched too long. The way he said it was not markedly different than he had in the dream.

"Nihlus." was all that would come out when he finally managed to speak again.

"Saren what the fuck happened."

"Nothing, Nihlus."

"You're just about the most unflappable person I know and you sound like someone just walked over your grave. What happened?" All the teasing was gone from his voice now.

"No."

"...If you don't want to talk about it, why did you call me?"

He formed the words twice before they could escape. "I needed to hear you."

Nihlus said nothing at first, but when he did the softness had returned. "Alright. What should I talk about?"

"Anything."

"Alright." A breath, and his voice was lighter again when he continued. "_Damn _I wish you were here right now, I'm almost certain you'd let me get sweet on you. It happens so damn little so of course it happens when you're a million miles away. So I guess you didn't get my file?"

"There was a message but I had not checked it."

"Aah... " and the return of that mischievous flutter in his subvocals again. "Well you might want to check it a little later. The title should make it pretty clear." Saren twitched his mandibles faintly as he brought up the log- _For those long lonely nights in FTL_ indeed. "I actually recorded that bit of audio years ago but never got around to sending it. You said before how much you liked the sounds I make me so..."

Saren eased as the conversation continued, Nihlus traveling back and forth between topics and never asking what had shaken him so. He even made him smile when he brought up the amazing coincidence that was the best Palaveni doctors showing up to work on his case at the same time Binary Helix's stock dropped because of a single anonymous investor liquidating 15% of their assets in the company and instigating a selloff. It wasn't long before he lost track of time.

"Saren." Nihlus said quietly after some time, "they're prepping me for surgery soon so I can't stay much longer and I just wanted to say something. You don't have to answer, I don't expect you to. I've still got a way to go to hold up my end of the bargain after all." A pause, a breath, an affection deepening his every tone. "I love you. Whatever happens take care of yourself and come back."

The call ended after that. Saren didn't return to sleep but his mind was clear again as he returned to the task at hand.

* * *

In her quiet lonely bubble Liara sniffled to herself, the little sounds echoing against the rounded walls. It wasn't right to feel sorry for herself while the guards who had been minding their site were probably dying outside but she couldn't help it. She was just a maiden after all, a certain amount of selfishness was expected.

Really she wasn't crying for herself; it was the artifacts. So many, so important, so ancient, and likely to be destroyed in a firefight... She'd give a century off her life if it meant they would be secured long enough to be truly studied. Goddess she hated crying. Mother never cried, so strong and beautiful and perfect... And frozen in stasis like she was she couldn't wipe her face so she must truly look appalling right now.

It was some time later that Liara heard the sound of feet on the old metal pathways and snapped her head back up to call out "Hello? Is someone there? Oh please help me, I've been stuck here for hours!" The footfalls were coming down and she tossed up a quick prayed that they weren't geth... And _oh_, she had rescuers! And they were human! And that one was _handsome_! Oh by Athane's glorious thighs! She forgot all about how wretched she must look in her excitement as she quickly began explaining her predicament to the two humans standing outside her bubble.

She wasn't very good at human expressions but something seemed off about them. The woman had this tick twisting her features but human skin was so much thinner than that of the asari so perhaps that was normal? And the man in charge was so very still, he didn't say a word until she stopped rambling about the generator and the geth and how she'd been here so very long...

"There is nothing to fear, Doctor T'Soni. Sovereign wills to meet you." Liara could barely hear him through the muffling effects of the bubble but her translator recognized the human word. They were dignitaries for a leader? What did a human leader want with her? She was just about to voice her confusion when he pulled a weapon off his back that bore an intensely familiar design and her heart stopped.

_The human had a prothean gun._

The end of the weapon flared with pale green light as the barrier in front of her exploded, the beam boring straight through it into the console keeping her captive and she yelped in fear despite herself but she didn't shout at them about the proximity because _he had a prothean particle beam_ and she could barely take her eyes off it. The human stepped over shattered piles of tiles that had broken from the ceiling and offered her a hand. Liara took it, her heart pounding. He was even more handsome than he'd looked through the barrier.

"Who are you?"

"My name is Shepard."

"How, where..." Oh Goddess he was still holding the gun in his other hand and she couldn't take her eyes off it. "...Can I touch it?"

Shepard handed it to her and her knees went weak as she stroked her fingers over its angled forms. She'd never seen anything so beautiful. Liara cradled it to her chest, nearly in tears

"This way, doctor. Sovereign has waited long."

"Yes, your ruler- did you get this from them?"

"Yes.

"Do they have more prothean technology?"

"Yes."

He wasn't very chatty but she didn't care as long as that was true. Something moved oddly in the corner of her eye; the human woman was still twitching faintly, giving her the strangest look. She seemed almost mad. "Is she alright?"

"All is well."

How odd her rescuers were. But they had a prothean gun and more where it had come from and they had saved her, could she really walk away? And where would she go? The geth were-

Liara yelped and raised the weapon at a geth trooper that was right beside her; it exploded in a beautiful and terrifying outrush of pale light that shot straight through the slender machine and into the wall behind it. She was so in awe that she didn't resist when Shepard lifted the weapon from her hands and replaced it on his back.

"The geth are our allies, doctor." There it was again, that deadpan voice, those expressionless eyes.

"But the geth-"

"Are your allies as well."

Now that she looked up they were everywhere, a dozen green circular oculi glowing from the pathways all around them. Geth beyond the Veil. A shudder of fear ran up her spine. But he was right... they weren't hurting her. They weren't hurting any of them. They just... stood there and waited for the three of them to begin walking to fall into line around them. Even in the heat of Therum's tunnels, even with the promise of Prothean treasures and the tantalizing lure of the ancient weapon on Shepard's back something cold lingered on her skin in that nightmarish caravan.

* * *

It had been the tech who had spotted the connection. Saren would have ignored it as yet another distress signal but Tarquin had insisted and convinced him to look closer at the situation on Therum. And judging by the mechanical corpses at their feet as the Spectre strode over them, the engineer's intuition had been right.

The Prothean underground of Therum was a maze scattered with dead archeologists and geth. Maps had been obtained from a destroyed research station but it only covered a small percentage of the caverns and seismic activity had the ground trembling intermittently under their feet. Saren slipped silent as a ghost through the tunnels at the head of his group: Tali'Zorah, Urdnot Wrex, and the human Alenko behind him. The Lieutenant had recovered in the month since the Normandy first arrived on Eden Prime, and while his expertise in biotics was minimal compared to his elders in the squad his presence would serve to dissuade the pilot from trying to leave them behind.

Metal glinted around an archway as a shot rang out from a sniper to glance off the krogan's armored bulk. Urdnot Wrex took the shot in stride, barrier rippling across his form as he barked out a laugh and charged into the slender deep brown form to crush it into a pulp "Hah! Now this is work I can get behind. You're never boring Arterius, I'll give you that."

Saren didn't bother responding and Wrex didn't expect him to, barreling deeper down the tunnel towards a trio of troopers to start tearing them apart. After the brief flare of gunfire died back down, the subdermal implant by the ear canal beneath one of his horns buzzed a military call signal.

"Spectre we've found Shepard, engaging the enemy."

"Patch me your location." Around him three alien heads snapped up at the change in tone.

"Coordinates sent. A warning Spectre: he's with the geth, no doubts left. They're guarding him, another human, and a hostage who seems to be one of the head archeologists."

"The hostage is inconsequential, take down Shepard at all costs."

In the cacophony of the firefight on the other end of the line he could pick up someone shouting _"A little help back here Sol!"_

_"A little busy here G!"_ she called back in response before coming back to Saren. "Yes sir, over and out."

No time was wasted in reaching the firefight. All delaying forces were dispatched with prejudice as they moved swiftly through the sleek architecture of a long dead race, scarred by bullets and splattered in a rainbow of shades of fresh blood. The three turians were attempting to advance under heavy fire when they reached them at the far end of one of the tiled chambers. Something however was missing... there was no sign of Shepard or the hostage, just a single human female in heavily stained armor in the midst of the geth. Saren's eyes narrowed as he moved through cover to find Solana.

She didn't bother glancing over while she shot, raising her voice to be heard over the distance. "He took the asari and they went off ahead through an uncharted part of the ruins. We're too damn bogged down here to chase after them: if I had the rest of my team it would be one thing but the numbers don't work this way. The Normandy needs another ground vehicle if we're going to be effective."

"It will be done." Frustration was heavy in his undertones before he quashed it, hurling a lance of biotic energy into the enemy formation to tear three of them apart into so much shrapnel. Across the way the younger Vakarian forgot to shoot for a spare few seconds of slack-mandibled awe before the quarian girl shoved his head down to keep him from being shot. Spirits they had to give him one of those didn't they? Hero worship was pointless and would only get the man killed. He was no one to worship; he was a turian, he did his duty.

A particularly brutal charge by the Battlemaster combined with a well-timed flare from Tali'Zorah's omnitool overloading several of the still-standing geth left a clear shot through to the human. Saren leveled his pistol and put a bullet straight into a structural flaw of the helmet to break it off her head with a satisfying crack. A breath to aim his next shot, perfect to go through an eye, and a squeeze of the trigger for one more human corpse on the pile that would never be enough to pay for Desolas-

Something jarred his arm hard and the bullet buried itself harmlessly into the stone. To his right Alenko's arm was still raised, biotic blue flickering out on it as he shouted to the woman who was bleeding from the impact of the first bullet but still alive.

"Ashley? What are you-"

At the sound of the name the woman's head jerked up- a hard edged knife of fear in her eyes as she tossed down her weapon and ran towards them, bellowing over the continuing geth fire as more machines crawled out of the woodwork "FORGET THE GETH AND GET THE HELL OUT OF HERE! THEY'VE GOT THE PLACE RIGGED TO BLOW!"

* * *

Liara had never felt so small in her life as she did at that moment. Not as an infant at her mother's feet, not as a young researcher reduced to begging to try to get her project funded; in every physical and emotional sense the ship that stretched out around her dwarfed all of those. It was terrifying yes, but awe inspiring at the same time.

Her host barely seemed to notice the frightful majesty arching overhead as they walked through the pathways of the ship, he never said a word save to direct her. It worried her, true. Something didn't seem quite right with the poor man, but she was an archaeologist not a xenopsychologist so what could she do about it? Any time she tried to ask him a question he just told her that his ruler had waited long and all her questions would be answered soon.

Shepard stopped at last at an archway obscured heavily by hanging nets of tubing that were cold to the touch when she brushed them aside to enter.

And froze. _Goddess,_ she thought her heart might burst. Haphazardly piled around the claustrophobic little room lay a treasure trove of artifacts: weapons, armor, jewelry, clothing, technology that she had no inkling to its purpose. Some were prothean and others seemed even older and all of them were in perfect condition. Liara had to sit down, holding a hand over her mouth as she touched an ornamental sword with reverence as tears spilled from her eyes. "Where... did you find this?"

"Sovereign has known many races, many times, and those that have followed it have left things behind. Join us and all of this is yours."

"W-wait, left these behind? But they're prothean! Your Sovereign couldn't have-" It didn't make sense, none of it made sense but she knew that she could no more decline and leave this behind than she could tear out her own bones. She was effectively trapped but her skin tingled with excitement all the same as she made up her mind. "... What should I do?"

He held out a hand to her. She took it and rose again to her feet, her heart beating wildly in her throat. Goddess he smelled like sweat and gunfire.

"There is a vision from a prothean beacon in me but I can not understand it. I need you to meld our minds."

"Yes, I can... yes. Now?"

"Now."

Liara swallowed, smiled, settled her hands on the sides of his head. Then she reached for him from within, her heart full of hope and wonder.


	4. Isolation

Now was not the time as they raced back out through the tunnels, nor when they crested the entrance: it was unknown how widespread the bombs were and in a first no one complained as far too many bodies packed into the waiting Mako. The human woman they had just acquired bellowed at the driver to gun it, the tank took off at something just under the speed of Spirits-forsaken sound and was far from the site when the blasts went off, throwing massive black clouds of Therum soil into the air as the ruins collapsed into sinkholes.

No, he waited until the Normandy had intercepted them and six of the seven other bodies had dragged themselves free of the cramped hull back into the garage. Then as Alenko exited the vehicle Saren backhanded him so hard into the side of the tank that the crack of his teeth was like a shot in a silent room.

Alenko stared up at him with shock, a hand going to his mouth and coming back red. The stunned look on his face only angered him further but he kept it contained, kept every level of his voice deadpan. Only his eyes may have betrayed his fury but he could not tell by the human's expression.

"Never question my judgement in such a way again." He had killed people for less; he would have killed anyone else on the ship to make a point but this man had kept Shepard from killing Nihlus and that stayed his hand. It was a weakness, Nihlus was his weakness Spirits help him.

A long moment stretched out where the weight in the air was dangerous, but the Lieutenant swallowed whatever argument he might have made and broke eye contact first, and the standoff defused. The turian soldiers separated for sleep or food, the quarian disappeared down into engineering, the tank's driver exited the vehicle to begin to assess needed repairs and the younger Vakarian lingered to assist her. Alenko retreated to the upper floor. Saren followed the path that Urdnot Wrex had taken upon exiting the vehicle toward the isolation room. The small chamber was used to contain troublemakers, drunks or suspicious individuals until a proper port could be reached and he had asked the krogan to escort their guest to its hospitality. His mood was foul, and the time was appropriate for an interrogation.

* * *

"Gunnery Chief Ashley Madeline Williams, Systems Alliance 2nd Frontier Division, Eden Prime Unit 212, service number 6 12..."

As she rattled off her identifying information Saren paid more attention to her body language than the words. Her seat on the only chair in the small room spoke to her caution; there was little she could do against his biotics but she was prepared to be on her feet in a moment to try. It spoke to martial arts training and her skill was likely to be considerable, but she was exhausted and alone and he had the upper hand in all ways. He had been careful to make sure of that.

"And an ally of the rogue former Spectre candidate Shepard." he finished for her, tone cold.

That got a rise from Williams; she snapped angrily back at him, baring her small white teeth "I'm not that bastard's ally!"

"Yet you traveled among his machines and fought beside him."

"Not willingly."

Saren didn't make a response to that save slowly raising a browplate. The look he gave her was more than sufficient to voice his doubts to the validity of that statement.

"I went after Shepard to put him down after he killed half of his own team, not to_ join_ him." Her eyes were narrowed hard on him, staring directly back into his own. "I don't care that you're a Spectre- this is Alliance business and I'm not saying another word to anyone but the Commander of the Normandy."

Oh yes, she knew who he was. His reputation was well traveled in the circles she must run in, there were many turian spectres but he knew he had achieved a certain notoriety in the last quarter century. To her credit there was no fear in her face. Anger, defiance, but no fear. "I am in command of the Normandy."

The stare she gave him lasted some time, flicking to the Alliance insignia branded onto the far wall. "Turians don't lead human ships."

"And the Normandy was a collaboration. The humans failed her and now she is mine. Call your ambassador if you doubt me."

This time the silence was significantly longer; likely she was weighing her options. It was the truth but she did not know that, and a simple soldier would not possess the Ambassador's contact information but that was not his problem. His problem was finding and killing Shepard for what he had done.

Clearly she did not trust him an inch, but she had no choice. "I followed Shepard across a few miles, shot him a dozen times but he wouldn't stop going until Sovereign was right on top of us." Despite her best efforts to the contrary she shuddered. "The last things I remember before I blacked out were geth coming in from everywhere and the ship screaming."

"Sovereign?"

"The ship. That's what it calls itself."

"An AI?" Interesting. Geth would make an AI likely, but to his knowledge geth did not name themselves let alone in such a grand manner. Perhaps if they had build to the scale that the impression had inferred that might change? But it did not seem right. The pieces were not falling together in ways that made sense.

"I'm a soldier not a mechanic but I've seen a lot of ships in my time and that one... it's like nothing I've ever seen before. It's not right. The damn thing reeks of evil"

Nihlus had used the same word in the hospital that first night. Saren said nothing. Williams continued. "When I woke up they had locked me in a room full of artifacts, objects, nothing I could place except that it was old. All I could recognize was the fragment of the beacon sitting in the center." Armored fists balled on her knees as her words heated. "They left me there for days. It... _did_ something to me. I knew who I was, I knew where I was from, all of the basics but I wasn't alone in my head any more and the presence was overpowering. At some point Shepard came in and put something in my helmet before letting me out. Whatever it was let them keep control of me outside that room until the helmet was gone."

_A shame your head did not go with it_ he growled internally. Flickers of anger still lingered in the corners of his mind over the incident but he focused and froze the anger, voice deadpanning when it came out again. "Convenient that this helmet is gone now. Tell me, if I had not shot it off where they would you claim they had this device? Your ploy to ingratiate yourself with the ship's crew may have worked with Anderson but it will not be so with me. I will not be entertaining Shepard's thrall."

Perhaps it was not entirely deadpan, he picked up the tinges of a sneer in his undertones. Human ears could not detect subvocals but some other unconscious clue must have made the derision clear. Likely more than the words themselves, if her rash of anger was anything to go by. "I'm not his servant you son of a bitch-"

He slammed her back into her chair harder than was necessary with his biotics when she started to rise, piercing blue eyes narrowed into fine slits. "Tell me, can he hear us right now?"

"You want to check me? Go ahead, check me. I don't have a damn thing to hide." She made a sudden move and he was ready to slam her back down again-enough to bleed her this time- but she was just tossing her pauldrons off on the ground. The boots followed them, as did the gauntlets. Saren slowly raised both browridges.

"This is entirely necessary?"

"Check it. Every fucking piece. And check me too until you're _damn sure _I'm not lying because I'm done with this crap. The sooner you believe me the sooner I get to find the bastard who did this to me and drive a bullet in his brain." Per her threat she continued to strip.

Well that was unexpected. He blinked once slowly, standing with his arms folded behind him until she was done and shoved the pile of gear at him. Perhaps checking it would be a good idea; he doubted such mind control devices that left the victim intact enough to lie existed, but there could be other information that could be gathered from the grime build up on the hardsuit. If the human wished to be stubborn he would leave her to fester here for a few days before sending the doctor to check her for the listening devices.

The next day passed significantly more peacefully. A stop in the Dis system secured another Mako for the garage and they spent a few hours planetside watching one of the turians learn to drive the tank. Urdnot Wrex guarded the isolation room to keep the humans from interfering with the prisoner, making certain nothing passed to her but water and the bare minimum of food as Saren poured over Williams' gear and omnitool.

The tool hadn't been cleaned in years, so while breaking its defenses was child's play it took days to go through every saccharine conversation with her family to be certain that nothing of importance was held within. She had started several messages in response to her mother and siblings' worried calls for her after the disaster of Eden Prime had gone public several weeks past, but they all trailed off into unrelated rambling and been abandoned. Saren thought of Desolas, dead for the humans' dragging his unit to cursed Shanxi, and deleted all of the worried messages unanswered.

Much more interesting was the armor. Since its last proper cleaning it had picked up the soil of half a dozen worlds, many of which a quick chemical scan could identify as planets that had suffered recent mysterious attacks, and each of which was known for prothean artifacts. But a few samples eluded him. The technology he had access to in the cabin of a stealth ship was limited, he would need more extensive resources to be certain of their origins.

The Spectre Office on the Citadel should do. It was just a matter of coincidence that he decided so shortly after receiving a message from Nihlus that said he needed to see him.

* * *

When he slipped into the room after hours much was different. For one it was quieter without all of the machinery that was needed to support a critical patient, for two it was simpler to navigate as the tubes that had crisscrossed his path had been withdrawn. For three Nihlus was no longer in the bed; he was standing in the middle of the room when he came in, dressed in the black and red armor that brought out the striking lines of his tattooing. Most of it was the same battleworn gear he had had for years... The breastplate was new.

Nihlus did not have his smile on. His face was all seriousness and it sent off the first warning bells in Saren's head that he was not going to like this conversation.

"I knew you'd come, but I'll thank you anyway. It's good to see you." Despite his features there was a softness to his subvocals then, something that touched a smile in his eyes even through the business nature of his primary tone. "We'll be seeing a lot more of each other now. I've been cleared for duty and I'm coming with you."

"Don't be ridiculous Nihlus. It's barely been a month-"

"A month and fifteen days. You'd be amazed by what top experts from the Lifebearer Brigade can accomplish in that much time when they don't seem to have a budget. But seeing as I'm pretty damn sure you paid for them and had them funneling you updates the whole time you already knew that. Did you think I wouldn't realize what you were doing? Spirits Saren, how much of a dent did you put in your net worth for me?" Nihlus eyed him from across the room, professionalism mingling with frustration.

Lying was pointless, Nihlus knew him far too well. "Money is not a concern of mine. And it was not important enough to mention."

The younger man sighed and shook his head, pressing his talons into the side of his face. "I still would have appreciated it. But you're right it isn't important anymore- and I'm still coming with you. It's my right to take down the man who tried to kill me, Spirits it's my responsibility for fucking up and picking him in the first place."

Saren's mandibles locked to his face, arms folded sharply behind him. "The Normandy is my ship and I will not allow it."

"Give me one good reason and I'll let it go."

He knew the stubborn look on his protege's face. It was true about his status being cleared, about Saren's access to the information from the doctors; he had well known Nihlus was fit to leave before he had come here. But he had not expected this. _You should have anticipated this, you should have been better prepared before arriving but in sense's stead you are caught unawares. The way you behave around him will not end well, he makes you weak Arterius. _"It would not be wise, Nihlus. There would be-"

Nihlus' eyes narrowed suddenly and he strode across the distance between them to stop just inside the other Spectre's personal space, though he did not reach to touch him. "Saren if this is that bullshit about my being a liability to you: you know better than anyone that I can look out for myself. You wouldn't have damnwell sponsored me to be a Spectre if I couldn't!" If he was walking he would be pacing, in lieu of that he leveled those brilliant green eyes with Saren's own pale blues.

"That has not always been so, Nihlus." _Eden Prime_ is not specifically said but it strongly inferred and he picks it up with ease.

Anger pulled in Nihlus' browplates and flared his mandibles, hardened his eyes as he jabbed a talon at him. "Cute, but it's not getting me off track. We already discussed that remember? This isn't even about me, this is about you and this damn complex you have about isolating yourself from every fucking thing that might hurt you. Be pissed off at me if you like but I'm just going to say it- _I'm not going to end up like Desolas_."

... He could say nothing to that. Saren turned his head away, old pain throbbing in the back of his head again.

The hand that had been pointed at him accusingly rose to cup his face and turned it back towards him again. Nihlus' eyes were calm, clear and certain. " I don't care if you want to keep it from the rest of the world because that's your business. But don't shut me out when we're alone."

Saren tried to work his jaw but nothing came out, and a deep brown talon touched his mouth to still the words. It moved away to be replaced by Nihlus' mouth and gentle brushes of his tongue. They stood close together in the room like that for some time.

When Nihlus pulled his head back slightly and gave him a curious look Saren sighed just enough to be audible. "You may come. But there can be none of this on board the ship."

"I figured as much." Nihlus smiled, that little glint he knew so well touching his handsome features. "I'll have to make a request first then- no not about that, I'll take a rain check on the promise from before. I don't want to hear it until you're ready to say it. This is decidedly less, ah, complex. If you're not going to let me touch you on the ship I'm going to need something ahead of time. It's been too long."

The words sent a wash of warmth down his skin but it was not that simple. "I have diagnostics to run in the Spectre Office."

"And I've been out of the loop long enough that I should get down there too. Diagnostics take a long time and it's a pretty private little suite Saren."

"Nihlus-"

"It's not as if we haven't done it before." he purred in return, running his tongue down the length of one of his horns, one hand creeping up the back of his neck while the other held firmly on the hook of his hip. "I've had a lot of time to think about you while I was laid up, a lot of long lonely nights... and it's not like you don't want this. You want it as much as I do."

_Spirits_ he sent his breath ragged far too quickly; he had to pull his head back and suppress the sounds that tried to break from his throat. "I need to establish the processes first."

The other man gave him a small devious smile, releasing him and stepping back to gather up the bag of his things. "I've waited eight months, I can wait a little longer."

Well-worn professionalism took over as the two men exited the hospital and made their way to the hidden suite, it bears them through duty until the scans are running comfortably on their own and all necessary information has been reviewed. It stops when Nihlus jumps him.

Diagnostics scans take a long time, and they are not interrupted.

* * *

The peace they had so sweetly found in each other was beautiful but fleeting. It broke as soon as the two men arrived on the Normandy. Someone was shouting on the deck just below them and the heavy guffaw of a familiar krogan's laughter followed it, trickling faintly up the stairs. "Gonna take more than words to budge me kid."

"You can't keep her in there like this! She deserves to be given over to the Alliance!" Ah, and that was Kaidan. Nihlus tried to shoot a curious look to Saren to ask what was going on but the other man only stormed past him to disappear through the door to the crew deck and left him hurrying to catch up.

"Lieutenant stand down and explain yourself." Saren hissed darkly across the room as he arrived. Kaidan looked up with resolve painted in the clench of his fists and the furrow of his brows.

"Sir this isn't acceptable. You've got an Alliance marine locked up in there who you've got no right to be holding. Ashley belongs in Systems Alliance custody and they'll decide if she should be tried or not-"

"I am a Spectre, I am beholden to no authority but the Council. Or have you forgotten that?" Saren's undertones were so cold he wouldn't have been surprised if crystals formed in the air around him. Nihlus could sense the ugliness getting out of hand and stepped out of the shadows to speak up clearly and levelly.

"Ashley Williams, the marine from Eden Prime?"

Kaidan was visibly taken aback when he looked up, the dim lighting of the ship and his own naturally dark coloring must have hidden him well. "Nihlus? I thought you-"

"I got better." Despite himself he knew he couldn't keep a measure of hardness out of his face, though he doubted Kaidan would be able to see it. "He tried his damndest but I pulled through. Just left me with a nasty scar." Saren had reacted strongly when he'd seen it last night as he pulled off his underarmor, careful not to tear the new fabric with those long pale talons. But it'd been in all the right ways... he'd gone to incredible lengths to reestablish his claim on him. A pleasant thought he had no time for now, he filed it away for later. "I'll be coming along to fix my previous mistake." _With force if necessary. Maybe even if it wasn't._

The lieutenant confirmed to him that it was the same Ashley and brought him up to speed on what he saw as the situation, no doubt Saren would have a different story to tell. Nihlus folded his arms lightly behind him and glanced back to his colleague. "I wasn't aware we'd picked up Williams, Spectre."

"Recently, on Therum. The 'rescue' was a well orchestrated trick to ingratiate her within the Normandy, she is one of Shepard's. Likely he anticipated Anderson would be retaining power of the ship or he would not have tried such a ploy. I have full intentions of interrogating his plans out of her myself."

"I met the woman before all of this happened, let me speak to her."

Saren gave him a long less-than-pleasant look but held his mandibles in a neutral position. "And your plan Kryik?"

Ah yes, his surname. He hated when Saren called him that, but formalities and all that bullshit... he'd never understand it, but he'd live with it for his sake. The man was too important to him to let something that small interfere. "Talk to her. I met Ashley before this happened, I have a firmer base to judge her from."

A silent conversation passed between the two Spectres told in long stares and minute mandible flicks, pure turian body language that Kaidan would be oblivious to. Wrex could probably infer most of it, old bastard was smarter than he had any right to be. In the end Saren acquiesced with a gesture of a hand towards the door telling him to go and try his plan if he wished but it wouldn't get him anywhere. Never mind what the older man thought, he knew it was worth trying. "Keep the peace out here for me Wrex." Nihlus said cordially over his shoulder as he passed the big krogan to get to the Isolation Room.

"Will do."

Hopefully that would be enough. Emerald eyes glanced back once more at Saren, busy being as inscrutable as ever, before closing the door behind himself.


	5. Negotiation

Nihlus need not have worried; Saren stalked off not long after the door closed behind his fellow Spectre. The man was entirely capable of questioning Williams on his own, and in the meantime Saren had work to do. As most of the Normandy's crew was still on leave he took the opportunity to walk the circuit of the ship vastly unbothered. The few humans who had remained on board stayed well out of his way.

Down in the garage only three of the crew remained: The Obstinatus Commander leaning against the far wall, the human Mako driver only visible by her boots sticking out from under the bunk of the tank, and Garrus Vakarian seated against its side and passing her tools while he ran diagnostics on his omnitool. As he stood back in the dark the human pushed out from beneath with her short hair in a ragged red mess to smile at Vakarian and something in the flutter of the young man's mandibles made Saren's eyes narrow. Fraternization was not something he concerned himself with policing but if his turian team was being tainted by the human crew...

An orange light flared through the darkness back by the weapons bench, reflecting on the face of Solana Vakarian who smiled in a way rather unlike her normal battle-ready grin. "-Yeah I know love, but the job's taking longer than we thought. I won't be able to make it to the wedding. He'll understand, the Galluses are military through and through after all and we've been friends long enough. Send him and Janus my regards. And try not to get too drunk at the reception, you know what it does to you and I won't be around to make sure you behave."

The voice on the other line was too soft to be overheard but she laughed. "_Yes_ I've been a good girl you little shit. You just want me to say I wasn't don't you?" On the other side of the garage Garrus seemed to have picked up on the conversation and was miming gagging to the driver, who made the most appalling snorting sound when she laughed. Solana ignored them until she finished the call and then turned to glare at her brother. "Does the peanut gallery plan on speaking up or are they pretending I couldn't hear that?"

"It's just a joke Sol." were his words, but there was a derisiveness to his subvocals that was easily heard. "But seriously, you could do a lot better."

Her mandibles flared out harshly as she stood, staring incredulously back at him. "Would it kill you to lay off Lantar for once in my life? You've been ragging on him since the day I brought him home; Spirits G, you tried to talk me out of my relationship on my damned wedding day!" There was more of a tired disbelief than an anger in her tones. It seemed this was a conversation that had occurred many times before.

"Uh, Garrus, you should probably lay off-" That was the human, crinkling the lines over her eyes and giving the soldier a look like he was a particularly remarkable level of stupid for arguing this point.

"Jane I know my sister and this needs to be said." he waved off her warning and continued. "Because he's as dumb as a sack of hammers, he's too damn short, he's a _dropout-"_

"Oh so it's the military dick waving again is it? Well you have permission to suck mine because I don't give a shit, and when we finish this tour I'm going home and he's rocking your big sister's world for a week straight."

Saren decided he had heard enough and returned to the elevator. He would ask Solana about the status of the Obstinatus Unit at another time. After finishing his circuit of the ship he passed by the Isolation room on the way to his cabin: Alenko was gone, Wrex remained leaning against the wall casually and greeted him with a faint nod of his armored head. "Still in there. Lot of talking." the krogan said without waiting to be asked why Saren had lingered instead of just disappearing into his room.

He chose not to reply and took to his cabin to review the scans that had run on Williams' armor while he and Nihlus had been otherwise occupied. Most confirmed his previous findings from before but as for the ones he had been unable to determine... Interesting.

A knock at his door activated the camera on his console. Nihlus was standing outside the cabin and a quick gesture of his omnitool unlocked it. The younger Spectre strode in, the perfect picture of professionalism. "Report." Saren said, without raising his gaze from the screens.

Nihlus waited until the door had closed and re-locked to drop the formal parade rest and stand more comfortably. "She's not with him, not anymore. I'm an excellent judge of character and outside that one fuckup I've never been wrong. You've asked more than once for my help getting people you weren't allowed to torture to talk so you know I'm good at this."

"What do you recommend, Nihlus."

"Let her out and let her serve on board. Ashley's a damn good soldier and she wants Shepard dead as much as I do."

Silence settled over the room for some time after that before he dismissed the screens and looked up. Brilliant green eyes looked back, concealing nothing. He was asking him to trust him. But Nihlus knew who he asked, he knew his mentor's nature. "The mission may rest on this."

Nihlus' mandibles flared just slightly in a humorless smile. "Which is why I'd recommend hacking her tool with the software you used to spy on Parvan Jah just in case my radar really has fucked itself. You'll know about anything suspicious before she does and then we'll have Shepard's ass in a vice."

"That is acceptable. I trust you know her history and the likelihood of her causing trouble with parts of my crew?"

"I didn't exactly have the chance to look it up between meeting her and realizing she was on the ship but if you're referring to her grandfather yes, she told me about that." As he spoke Nihlus had come across the room to the point where he was at his shoulder, leaving him standing close and Saren very aware of his proximity. The face and the voice above him both gained some of their old humor back when he continued. "She also said she doesn't have a problem with turians, just assholes. Called you one and told me I was free to pass that along."

Saren's sole choice of comment on that was a snort before he turned off to recall the screens of data he had been reviewing. Nihlus and his rich scent remained distractingly close. "Artifacts?" came the question from beside him.

"An immense concentration of them judging from the amount of detritus that found its way into the armor's crevasses. It ranges from chemical compositions preferred in prothean pottery to threads of parchment the system believes came from the inusannon, to Spirits know what save that it is older, much older. It seems that part of Williams story were not entirely fabricated."

"Damn."

"Indeed." Saren settled a hand under his face, narrowing his eyes at the screen in concentration. "It does not make sense. But little of this mission has so far. This 'Sovereign', the beacon, the geth, Shepard's timing, the killings... There is so much I haven't been able to review it all let alone understand it."

"We'll figure it out. You're smart as hell and we only work better together." His voice was closer now, almost against where his ear canal was located behind his horn. Saren's browplates rose as he turned his head to look back at him...

...Which was exactly when Nihlus chose to slip past his guard, cram himself between his body and the desk to straddle his lap, and thrusted his tongue into his mouth with a suddenness that took his breath away. It was a reckless gesture; turians were not made for kissing let alone this sort, a single startled bite from him could have cut straight through that fool tongue but Nihlus knew just the right buttons to make him gasp and give himself the room to push past his mouthplates to taste him. It was nearly enough to make him give in but he managed to pull his head back without injuring either of them. "_Nihlus!_" he snarled with his primary tone, though damn it something else entirely was threatening at the edges of his subvocals.

He just smiled knowingly with half lidded eyes. "Please Saren, I know you. You soundproofed this place so you could hear out but no one could hear in unless you wanted them to as soon as you took command, same you did with the Virial." Damn him he looked pleased with himself as he leaned back, utterly aware of the way the curving lines of his armor highlighted his waist. "I agreed to follow your rule so I won't push you for this, even when we're so rarely on the same ship together. But you can invite me up whenever you like. Call this a reminder that if you change your mind..."

Another long kiss followed, slower than the first, ending with their foreheads settled together and Nihlus' warm breath on his face. "...that's how much I want you."

True to his word Nihlus left after that without further advances. It was just markedly harder for Saren to concentrate on reports afterwards, to the point where he gave up on them entirely and retreated to his bed to work out the sudden tension in a less constructive way.

* * *

"Hello you have reached the desk of Matriarch Benezia on Thessia, how can I help you?"

"This is Saren Arterius, I need to speak to the Matriarch. My number is on her Clear list." The clarification was unnecessary; Silene had been Benezia's secretary for the last two centuries and knew well who he was by now. However she appreciated the formality from him and he had always been careful to use it.

"I'm sorry Spectre, the Matriarch is not available at this time, she is currently on a meditative retreat and won't be back in contact for another two months. Can I take a message for you?"

Unfortunate. His mandibles gave a small flick and pulled in closer to his face. "Can you tell me where she is?"

"She's on Noveria Spectre, but she's not to be-"

Saren brought up another line on his terminal to inform Navigation that they were setting course for Port Hanshan immediately. That done he turned his attention back to the secretary. "If you have a way to contact Benezia I need you to tell her that the matter I must discuss with her is of her daughter's kidnapping."

Silene went ashen at his words. After a few moments of shock her fingers started to fly across the holokeys in a flurry. "I'll- I'll let her know Spectre, thank you. Is there anything else I should pass ahead?"

"Shepard is responsible, and we believe Liara is still alive. I will be on Noveria shortly to pass the rest on to her myself."

The pale blue face that looked back at him through the vid link was shaken but still held strong. "..Thank you Saren. You know how much this means to us."

"I will do what I can. I make no promises."

"I know." She gave a very small smile, and the call ended shortly after that. It left the cabin dim around him as he stared ahead with templed hands under his chin, mandibles tightened hard against his face. A gesture brought up the footage captured by Tarquin's drone that showed the young asari being led off by Shepard in a circle of geth, terrified out of her mind. Saren cursed himself internally for not realizing sooner that this had been Benezia's daughter's dig site. Not that he would have changed his course of action on the ground, but he could have told her sooner: Liara was her only living child, utterly naive but very intelligent. She should have a promising future in front of her.

Saren shook his head with a low sigh and rose from his desk. If it was possible to save the girl he would for her mother's sake, Spirits knew he was a man of very few friends. But if it was a choice between taking down Shepard and securing Liara?

The mission came first, and there was much work yet to do.

* * *

Noveria wasn't much for shore leave. Saren was allowed free access as a Spectre and Nihlus would have been allowed the same had he not chosen to stay on-board to get a better handle of the Normandy under her new Commander. Understand the dynamics and the mood of the crew, more or less. As for how that was going, well...

Tense as fuck was a good place to start. The easy camaraderie that had existed under David Anderson was gone, replaced by that particular brand of distrust and paranoia that followed his mentor around as naturally as his shadow. From what he'd gleaned the worst of it had only really started the day before he'd come on board... which was what found Nihlus in the cockpit listening to the pilot explain the story of the Navigation Officer's departure from the Normandy just after she had docked at the Citadel.

It wasn't that he needed to know what had happened- he'd already gotten it from several other witnesses- but he needed to know where Jeff Moreau stood. The answer? Not good. It couldn't be much clearer how much he loathed Saren. He'd been finding any way to dog him that he could, having either not grasped that the man was stubborn as fuck or simply not caring.

When the story of Charles Pressly's furious and very public resignation from Saren's command finished Joker stared ahead at his console, stiff lines drawn in his face. Nihlus let it rest for a few breaths before speaking up again. "I take it you don't like his replacement then?"

"What, Rana? She seems to know what she's doing and she's hotter that Pressly was to boot. I like her just fine but that doesn't mean I trust her. I don't trust anyone our fearless leader brings on board my baby."

Nihlus' mandibles quirked slightly at that in a dry humor that carried into his voice. "So where does that leave me?"

"Technically the Council sicced you on us, but I don't know if that makes it better or worse. No offence."

"None taken. So if you don't trust me why are you talking to me?"

The human shrugged and flicked his fingers through a few idling processes running diagnostics on the Normandy's performance while they were docked. "Don't think I have much of a choice, we're stuck on the same ship after all."

"I appreciate the honesty Mr. Moreau. It's not often easy to find."

He pulled a face at that, waving him off. "Please, just... stick to Joker. 'Mr. Moreau' is what your big nasty friend calls me, I prefer to hear it as little as possible so I know when to watch out for a bullet in the head."

_Actually he wouldn't warn you first, he'd just take the shot_. But explaining that aloud wasn't constructive to building bridges so he kept it to himself. "Saren's methods are extreme but he gets the job done better than anyone else. And if nothing else the sooner this is over the sooner we're all off your ship."

Joker snorted "I'll be sure to save the tequila and party hats until then." and brought up a series of maintenance screens that effectively cut Nihlus out of his space and ended the conversation. Ah well, not bad for a first try. The Spectre extracted himself gracefully and headed for the elevator and another person of interest.

He, ah, tended to avoid the garage for a few specific reasons. Three to be precise, and since the whole of the Obstinatus unit was onboard all three of them watched him with barely contained lust as he exited the elevator. Nihlus did his best to ignore both them and Wrex's grin (cheeky bastard) as he made his way back to Williams at the weapons bench. "Good morning Corporal. I take it you've been settling in well?"

"As well as I can with the Spectre Club spying on me." Ashley put down the Avenger she'd been taking apart and turned to him. It wasn't wrong of her to be suspicious. Rana Thanoptis may have been trained as a navigator but Nihlus had known her first as a psychologist and neurospecialist in Saren's employ, and the man never did anything accidentally. Frankly Nihlus was probably the only person _not _spying on her from Saren's crew. He offered her a small flick of his mandibles.

"You'll prove yourself in time."

"Me or humanity?"

"I see my earlier conversation with Shepard must have been overheard."

"Yeah, it was." There was a hard set to her face as she crossed her arms and eyed him up. It was an entirely different sort of look than the hungry inviting glances the two women and the one man kept shooting him from across the room. Frankly they weren't bad looking, especially the older woman, but he wasn't interested in anyone but Saren. Not that he could exactly tell them that to get them off his back... Debating politics was deeply preferable.

"You grew up on a colony, correct?"

"On Sirona. I don't see what it has to do with the conversation."

"I grew up on a little colony out in the Borena cluster myself. We both know it's a hard life that's all a matter of proving yourself. The military is the same way, as are galactic relations. My people went through it over a millennia ago and your people are going through it now. It all takes time."

"Humanity has been a part of the galactic community for decades and we more than do our part, all we want is representation."

"It took the turians a century of war and many more decades of waiting afterwards to do the same. Other races have waited longer, humanity needs time to prove itself. It's why I was willing to put forward a human Spectre candidate. Of course we all know how that ended."

"I'm gonna kill that bastard for what he did to me." Hell of a snarl on the woman.

Nihlus gave a humorless chuckle. "You'll have to get in line for that."

She looked back up at him at that, olive face sincere. "For what it's worth, I hope you get him if I don't. We've actually got reasons for it." It was clear that her distaste for her new Commander was strong, and she had no way of knowing Saren's reasons were just as legitimate as their own. Nihlus had no intention of informing her either. Yes he wanted to build bridges with the crew, but he would not harm his relationship with Saren to do it. He had his priorities after all.

They spoke civilly on the issue for a time longer before he excused himself. No progress yet. There was still time to win her over though, so he didn't worry. In the meantime he had contacts to bother.

* * *

Benezia's help was proving invaluable. Fearing for her daughter's safety she had held nothing back; the webs of information she had stretched back centuries and he had been granted full access to all of them. The possibility of finding the girl alive and intact was still small, but it would not be for lack of attempt on the part of her mother.

Of particular interest was information the matriarch had received shortly before cutting off contact for her retreat: an acolyte had sent in a report detailing a creature that predated the protheans and held extensive knowledge of them. With Shepard's ship possessing parameters that weren't possible with current technology, the fixation on artifacts like the beacon, the attacks on dig sites, Liara's kidnapping... his conclusions had drawn themselves to the fact that the forces involved in this were prothean. How or why he knew not, but it all pointed towards them. Knowledge was what he needed, and Feros promised a chance of answers.

Distractions were kept to a minimum as Saren analyzed Shiala's report. In the right hands the discovery of a species that seemed to exist outside of all known parameters for life would have been fascinating, but he had never been a man of science; he was a soldier, a Spectre. Thirty years ago there may have been more wonder in him. Too much had happened since then.

Nihlus accompanied him planetside. The Obstinatus unit and Urdnot Wrex were left to secure the landing site against the colonists, suspicious to the last of strangers asking to see their Lord. Saren knew from the report that they had been brainwashed. Every person who left the ship was helmeted, the time span it took for the spores to enslave someone was unknown and he would not risk his crew. Even so he did not wish to linger on this planet longer than necessary and he was ready to make the call to just start killing the stubborn humans to speed the process along when Shiala finally arrived and was able to calm them. Only then were the Spectres allowed to enter the complex hidden under Zhu's Hope that lead to the Thorian's lair.

The creature had been waiting for them. Massive and bloated it hung in the ruins, faceless and voiceless save a low guttural sound that resonated in the stone beneath their feet. It drew from its depths what had once been a human being that was now tinged a dark green with a marked emptiness to its eyes. "The Old Growth knows that the flesh have come to speak. It questions what flesh have to say that is worth its attention when you will not even show proper awe." the thrall spoke with words not its own.

Saren looked towards the creature beyond the human, indifferent to its claims of greatness and its slave both. "We have come to deal for information on the protheans."

"Flesh has little that the Old Growth values. Why would it make deals with you?"

"Because your reach is limited on this planet and there are things you want that you have not been able to obtain. I believe that I am in possession of one of them now."

The creature seemed to contemplate that for a moment, its puppet going limp as it did so. When those dead eyes raised and opened again their gaze was locked firmly on Shiala. "It desires the small one."

"Acceptable." He answered without missing a beat. Shiala snapped around to gape at him in shock, her small square teeth visible when her jaw dropped. Beside him Nihlus was more subtle in his reactions but Saren could feel those familiar eyes burning into him despite the helmet. "I want to know what the protheans were planning when they disappeared and how the beacons tie into it. What measures they may have left behind that would still function all this time past. Particularly ships."

There was real fear on the commando's face. He had read her report several times, he knew her feelings of awe and dread for this creature, the lengths she had gone to shielding herself from its influence. She fought for composure admirably, but all the same her voice quavered when she spoke. "Spectre, you can't-"

"Benezia has already approved of all possible recourse while her daughter's life hangs in the balance. Her gratitude for your sacrifice will be eternal."

Shiala stared from him to the Thorian, pale with fear, but did not run. Finally she lowered her head in submission and wrapped lightly armored arms around herself. "...If my Matriarch has need of me... I have followed her loyally for two hundred years, I can make no other choice. _Goddess_..."

It was not that he lacked sympathy, it was simply what needed to be done. But when the thrall began to move towards the woman to collect her he drew her back and gave Nihlus the order to guard her. Restraint was not necessary as she did not fight, and the thrall stopped once she was pulled away. The long cold silence from Nihlus continued, but he did as asked and said nothing.

Once again Saren spoke up, tone utterly level and calm. "She will be turned over only after I have been told what I want to know. What do you know of the beacons left behind by the protheans, what was their purpose?"

"There was one here, far back in the long cycle. It is gone now but the Old Growth retains it. Come forward and it will give you what you seek, though it will not help you. The Old Growth has nothing to fear for it is eternal. But the darkness is coming, and those that scurry through the worlds above will not survive."

Armored footfalls echoed through the chamber as he approached the creature with his head held high. His boldness was not in ignorance of what he faced. Saren knew the dangers of this being as well as anyone alive and had taken all appropriate precautions. If those were not sufficient Nihlus had been left with explicit instructions at what point to extract him by any means necessary. If nothing else his faith in his fellow Spectre was complete; whatever happened with the Thorian he would leave this place. So he did not fear as he removed his helmet and a foul smelling tendril rose and touched his face.

A hundred thousand voices began screaming at once. Images, sounds, too much, too fast, it was prying his skull open from the force-

The world went black and he knew no more.


End file.
